‘Zealots fulminating about…’: Shashi Tharoor hits back at trolls after praise for PM Modi's anti-terror response

All-party delegation Leader Shashi Tharoor responded sharply to online criticism after he praised the Prime Minister's handling of terrorism. Facing backlash from some quarters, Tharoor clarified that his comments were specifically about India’s responses to terrorist attacks, not past wars.

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In a post on X, Tharoor wrote, “After a long and successful day in Panama, i have to wind up at midnight where with departure for Bogota, Colombia in six hours, so I don’t really have time for this — but anyway: For those zealots fulminating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC: in the past.”

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He added, "I was clearly and explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars; & My remarks were preceded by a reference to the several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone, during which previous Indian responses were both restrained and constrained by our responsible respect for the LoC and the IB. "

But as usual, critics and trolls are welcome to distort my views and words as they see fit. I genuinely have better things to do. Goodnight, he added.

“My remarks were preceded by a reference to the several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone, during which previous Indian responses were both restrained and constrained by our responsible respect for the LoC and the IB. But as usual, critics and trolls are welcome to distort my views and words as they see fit. I genuinely have better things to do. Goodnight,” he added.

What were Tharoor's remarks?

While speaking at a gathering in Panama City, where he led one of the seven multi-party delegations involved in the Operation Sindoor campaign abroad, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, “What has changed in recent years is that the terrorists have also realised they will have a price to pay. On that, let there be no doubt. When, for the first time, India breached the Line of Control between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launchpad - the Uri strike in September 2016. That was already something we had not done before.”

“Even during the Kargil War, we had not crossed the Line of Control; in Uri, we did, and then came the attack in Pulwama in January 2019. This time, we crossed not only the Line of Control but also the international border, and we struck the terrorist headquarters in Balakot. This time, we have gone beyond both of those. We have not only gone beyond the Line of Control and the international border. We have struck at the Punjabi heartland of Pakistan by hitting terror bases, training centres, terror headquarters in nine places,” he added.

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Several Congress leaders have pushed back, reminding Tharoor of the surgical strikes conducted during the UPA era. Among them, Congress leader Udit Raj went as far as to sarcastically label Tharoor the “super spokesperson” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“How could you be so dishonest to the party which gave you so much ?” Raj asked in a post on X.

Echoing Raj's remarks, Congress's media head, Pawan Khera, who reshared his post on X, also tagged Tharoor in a video in which former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke about the surgical strikes conducted during the UPA era.

The delegation led by Tharoor includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayagi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita--all from BJP; Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora.

(With inputs from agencies)